Veggies in London

Veggie pie in a Bloomsbury pub.

After the challenges of being a vegetarian in Paris, it was a pleasure to get to London, where vegetarians are vociferous and catered to.

In England, there is a vegetarian-friendly logo for food, just as there is a cruelty-free logo in North America for beauty products. So vegetarians don't have to read the fine print to know there are no animal products in their marmite or ketchup.

Not surprisingly, "natural flavorings" are not as prevalent. These seemingly innocent words appear regularly on labels in North America, hiding the fact that they can be derived from animals or genetically-modified organisms. I don't buy products that contain natural flavorings. When Stoneyfield yogurt started including them, I wrote to ask if the flavorings they used were vegetarian. They responded that they have no way to know. I stopped eating their yogurt.

Our first meal in London was at a pub (surprise!) which had both veggie and meat pies. There were a variety of sauces one could order with the pie. I ordered one, and a few minutes later the waitress came back to apologize because they could not be certain that the sauce I had ordered to go with my pie was vegetarian. They thought it was, but they couldn't guarantee it.

If American waiters were as conscientious, they would warn vegetarians about pretty much everything on the menu. Because natural flavors are an integral part of the American eating experience, whether they're derived from pigs or cows or berries. And the flavoring companies don't tell you the source - trade secrets, you know.

So it was a relief to be back in England, land of the cranky vegetarians, after a week in Paris, land of the arrogant carnivores.